ASP 2017: Give high-level political support to ICC

Global civil society is encouraging states at this December's Assembly of States Parties to give high-level political support to addressing the serious threats and challenges facing the International Criminal Court and wider Rome Statute system.

ICC member states—collectively the ASP—will gather in New York in early December to discuss and decide on ways to make the Court and international justice more effective. The ASP is responsible for ICC laws and rules—their drafting and amendment, for example—as well as management oversight. The ASP also encourages ICC member states to increase their cooperation with the ICC and undertake national prosecutions of grave crimes in the first instance (complementarity).

The ASP plenary sessions, the General Debate and the many side-events provide a unique opportunity for stakeholders to address the serious threats and challenges facing the ICC and wider Rome Statute system.

That's why we're calling high-level officials representing the regions and major legal systems of the states parties to the Rome Statute to affirm that:

The ICC and engagement in the Rome Statute system are essential means of promoting respect for international humanitarian law and human rights, thus contributing to sustainable peace in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations through freedom, security, justice, and the rule of law, as well as through the prevention of armed conflict, the preservation of peace, and the advancement of post-conflict peacebuilding and reconciliation;

Justice and peace work hand-in-hand and are in fact mutually reinforcing, with the Rome Statute system providing a model framework for inclusive peace processes, incorporating justice and accountability for existing victims of atrocities through fair and effective investigations and proceedings, as well as protection for future victims through the stabilization of conflict situations and reinforced rule of law;

Each government has a responsibility to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, recognizing that the conscience of humanity continues to be deeply shocked by unimaginable atrocities in various parts of the world, and that there is an urgent need to both end and deter these most serious crimes of concern to the international community, and eradicate impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes; and,

The Court plays a unique and central role in peace-building processes as the only permanent international criminal court within an evolving system of international criminal justice, not least through the Court’s contribution to guaranteeing lasting respect for, and the enforcement of, international justice.

Reaffirming support for the four points above is in line with the principles enshrined in the introductory paragraphs of the annual overall policy resolution on “Strengthening the International Criminal Court and the Assembly of States Parties,” (the ‘omnibus resolution’) which the Assembly has adopted for several years.